HELP!!!! Sick chickens!!!

[gab0624]

So, I started this process at the beginning of spring. I got 6 chickens that seemed perfectly healthy. I got them home and noticed two seemed lethargic, which can happen with transport etc. I dipped their beaks and made sure temp was exact. Two days later they were still lethargic and now had runny noses and what sounded like fluid in their lungs. Not knowing what to do, or that I could try antibiotics they died three days later. The remaining chicks seemed fine for about two weeks until they all started w the same symptoms. I then have them tetracycline in their water but it didn't help so they got a shot which cleared it up. I decided that they were healthy enough to replace the chicks that died and got a few more. Needless to say, one chick got sour crop (figured out too late and died), two chicks now have that awful smell, one is sneezing with a goopy eye and one now has bloody poop!!! I am at a loss. I give them fresh water everyday with probiotics, they have a dry coop and roam on a large property. I ordered the tylan 50 injectable, but I don't know if it will help clear up all the issues going on!! Help please!!!!!

 

[seminolewind]

There is a respiratory ailment with stinky odor. That antibiotic will not really help. I hope someone else can help you with which antibiotic to use. Maybe Baytril, Tylan, Sulfadimethoxine, LS 50, Gallimycin/erythrmysin, . I know Casportpony would know. PM her.

 

[Eggcessive]

I hate to suggest this since it is a help thread, but whatever you do you are probably going to have this illness in your flock. There will be much expense treating these chickens over and over for what sounds like coryza. Sulfadimethoxine (Albon or Di-Methox) is the drug of choice for treating coryza, but I would probably put them down if I was sure of that diagnosis. Your state vet can autopsy one bird with symptoms, and they can tell you what they have. Here is the site for finding your state vet: http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/statevets.aspx

 

[gab0624]

bummer. So if I cull them, how do I disinfect everything (coup, soil etc) in order to stop passing it?

 

[War Chicken]

So what worked before was an injection of tetracycline? You probably have Mycoplasma gallisepticum which is very common. Pretty much everything with wings is a carrier. Mycoplasma-free flocks are really only possible with indoor operations and you have to be OCD about biosecurity and do things like disinfect your boots before entering. Culling isn't the solution. You control Mycoplasma, not eliminate it.

Just buy a bottle of Denagard and put it in their water when anyone shows respiratory symptoms or conjunctivitis. If it doesn't work then you have to consider less common diseases.

 

[Eggcessive]

The OP has described a stinky odor that I would think was coryza. If the stinky odor was from sour crop, maybe they would have mycoplasma, which would be treatable. However if the odor is from the respiratory disease, I still would believe that is coryza. What type of shot was given before, Tylan?

 

[gab0624]

I can't remember what the shot was, but before they didn't have "the smell". It's not sour crop, it smells like poop, from their noses:/ the problem I'm having is that they are continually getting sick and never really getting better and I hate the idea of having to treat then with antibiotics continually.

 

[War Chicken]

You shouldn't be treating with antibiotics constantly, just until they regain their strength and their immune system gets the upper hand over the infection. A lot of people go months or even years without a chicken coming down with something.

 

[seminolewind]

I can't remember what the shot was, but before they didn't have "the smell". It's not sour crop, it smells like poop, from their noses:/ the problem I'm having is that they are continually getting sick and never really getting better and I hate the idea of having to treat then with antibiotics continually.

I think you'd be better off giving the right antibiotic for the right period of time. Tylan is not known to treat Coryza, but Sulfadimethoxine is. Or see a vet.